


Touched by the Wolf Chief

by Five Moments of Zanii (Zaniida)



Series: Five Moments of Intimacy (Alt Fandoms) [8]
Category: Elfquest
Genre: FMI: Physical Intimacy, Gen, Introspection, Parallels, Personal Growth, perspective
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-31
Updated: 2020-08-31
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:49:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 847
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26229733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zaniida/pseuds/Five%20Moments%20of%20Zanii
Summary: By now, having seen too many elves die, he is of one heart and one mind with the wolf chief on that matter at least: No elf must die.Not while he has the power to change that destiny.
Relationships: Cutter & Rayek, Leetah & Rayek
Series: Five Moments of Intimacy (Alt Fandoms) [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1626043
Comments: 10
Kudos: 4
Collections: August Intimacy 2020





	Touched by the Wolf Chief

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DesireeArmfeldt](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DesireeArmfeldt/gifts).



> If the Muse had cooperated, my first ElfQuest fic would've been about Strongbow, who's always held a special place in my heart from the first time I heard his song on cassette during a sleepover. I had a couple different FMIs that seemed like they'd work -- Strongbow losing people over time, or else his many tangles with Cutter, or the like, perhaps even the ways that The Way has affected his capacity for intimacy. Alas, none of them came together in time.
> 
> But I've got a ton of EQ collections from the library right now, and it's interesting re-reading them, now that I have a much fuller picture of the journey from start to end. (Also, it's frustrating that the one page that got torn out of one volume is one of the few parts of the story that I never did get to read when it came out... sigh.)
> 
> And Rayek has always been one of my favorite characters, despite how much I want to wring him about the neck and force him to stop being such an abuser. Because he _is_ abusive, and has been since before the first issue, given some of the details in his childhood story; Rayek has this central vice of being unwilling to let other people make their own choices and live their own lives, and even his tragic path centers around being unwilling to let Winnowill go until she has conformed to his will. (No matter what you might try to call it, Rayek, that's not love.) But that's not the sum total of what he is, and it was good to get a chance to explore one facet of him within the focus of Nonsexual Intimacy during this month's [event](https://allbingo.dreamwidth.org/162885.html).
> 
>  **Desiree** , I have no idea what you think of Rayek, but you mentioned something about being more interested in the early books than the later work, and this is certainly rooted in the first quest! I hope it's a decent gift for you.
> 
> (Now let's see if I can manage to get _Unseen Things_ up to the cliffhanger over the next two months... I've got about two chapters written, so there will definitely be updates during Creepyfest!)

As he drags the wounded wolf chief up onto his stag, Rayek can’t help but recall being pulled up by Cutter’s hand, up from certain death on the Bridge of Destiny, where Rayek’s cocky pride had nearly cost him everything.

There are other moments of touch between them. A quick boot to the face, because Rayek had not been prepared to defend himself, having never expected to face another elf in combat. Cutter pulling up Rayek’s blindfold, after he’d invoked the name of the High Ones in his rage. His hand grabbing Cutter’s shoulder, shoving him to the ground and throwing the challenge wand so hard that it pinned itself straight into the hard-packed dirt near Leetah’s window.

The only time they’d touched for more than an instant was the Trial of Hand. The struggle had been unlike anything Rayek could compare it to, for Rayek had never gone up against anyone with the will to match him, let alone defeat him. That instance of horror as the touch ended and he fell blindly toward the earth—his first loss to the wolf chief, though not his last.

How much worse would he have fallen, later, had Cutter not risked his own life to save Rayek. Rayek, who had braved the winds thoughtlessly, so focused on proving himself the greater that even Leetah’s frantic cries had not dissuaded him.

He was wrong, at the time, reckless and narrow-sighted beyond all measure. _(Has he grown beyond that? Likely not enough, but there is time.)_ Still, thanks to his self-imposed exile, he found Ekuar and rescued him from the trolls; whatever else his defeat might have cost him, he can never regret that. And thanks to Ekuar’s patient training, he has claimed a power he could never have developed on his own.

Even so, as he rides back toward the Go-Back camp, he finds himself wondering how it might have gone for him, had Cutter’s life ended that day. At the time, the thought of Cutter dying was a dark pleasure, an end to his problems: no more rival for Leetah’s affections, and perhaps a way to drive the newcomers off into the sands again.

How foolish of him to hope, even fleetingly, that Cutter’s defeat would drive the Wolfriders back across the desert. They seem all too acquainted with death; had Cutter fallen, they would have chosen a new chief, given his body to the wolves, moved on.

Death is far less familiar to the Sun Folk, less easy to accept. In all Rayek’s years, from birth to the moment he left Sorrow’s End, he has known only one death, the one that brought Leetah into her own. Had the rivalry between him and Cutter led to death, it would have widened the rift between Rayek and the peaceful farmers who have never quite understood him. Perhaps enough to drive him away—not across the desert, perhaps, but at least to live among the rocky cliffs, his namesake.

And Leetah… he does not wish to think on how she might have suffered. The effects of Recognition denied, for a while, though her powers would have eased that for her until it faded. At the time, she had not yet come to cherish the wolf chief… but Rayek knows full well what she thinks of death, her great enemy. For him to send any elf to that end would have severed for good the bond he shares with her, and that, he cannot bear to think on.

As he lets Cutter down into the arms of the chief’s silver-haired friend, Leetah rushes over, desperate to begin the healing. Rayek’s heart swells at the sight of her, who he had hardly hoped to ever see again. And yet, for the child of light and warmth and healing to come to this land of cold and indifference and death… it is a cruelty he wishes he could make right.

When Leetah and Kahvi argue over whether time and resources should be wasted on trying to save Cutter, Rayek finds his resolve hardening. By now, having seen too many elves fall, he is of one heart and one mind with the wolf chief on that matter at least: _No elf must die_.

Not while he has the power to change that destiny.

It is the silver-haired one, again, who snarls as Rayek enters Kahvi’s tent, who stands between his tribemates and this intruder he does not yet recognize, and would not welcome if he did. Rayek pays him no heed, and does not reveal himself; Leetah needs all her focus for the healing.

But he stretches out his hands over Cutter and lets his awareness sink beneath the wolf chief’s leathers. He cannot feel him as a healer would feel him, the intricate web of systems that make up the body, but as a physical body, as a weight, he is aware of the parts as the world pulls on them, and he transfers that pull to himself, straining against the pressure.

This time, it is Rayek who lifts Cutter from death.

**Author's Note:**

> Honestly, I think I might've painted Rayek a little more positive here than is canon. I'm not sure he's to the point of valuing all elfin life, and he certainly is willing to let elves die later on. But it's a thought. And a start.
> 
> Given that it's 11 p.m., I don't think I'll be able to get another piece up tonight, so this is likely the finale of my August Intimacy event. But I've been persuaded to add a sub-collection for stragglers sometime during September, so I expect to write some more FMI pieces once I have a chance to catch my breath here. 20,000 words in 31 days! I still can't believe I managed that much output without even realizing it.
> 
> Biggest annoyance: I wasn't able to put together either the Nathan FMI or the Carter & Harold FMI in a timely manner. I would've liked to include at least _one_ entry from the _Person of Interest_ fandom that wasn't a Dark Inversion piece! Plus, August is [Nathan Ingram Month](https://archiveofourown.org/works/17256416/chapters/40580141), so I'd really hoped to include that. But maybe I can manage a belated fic before the week is out.


End file.
